Only 10 feet away....

So, tonight was my first Michael Franti concert.

Okay, let me back up. Michael Franti and Spearhead is honestly one of my favorite bands of all time. He not only has good music (a mixture of funk, reggae, rap and blues), but he has incredible lyrics. This is a major point for me when considering a band (of course it is, I write and am an English teacher). If an artist cannot write poignant, thought-provoking lyrics that discuss not simply their personal lives, but social and political issues as well, it is hard for me to fully support them. Franti does all of these things so amazingly well (up until the album "All Rebel Rockers", but I digress), and was one of the greatest concerts I have ever been to.

The festival was the McDowell Mountain Music Festival out in Scottsdale, and we arrived, not really knowing what to expect. Hot Tuna went on at 7:00, and we plodded in around 7:30. It was incredibly quiet for a festival (well, any festival we had been to), and seemed so very quaint. Hot Tuna finished about 20 minutes before Franti, so we headed up toward the front of the stage. Literatlly, there were probably about 500 people there, and only about 1/3 of them were in front by the stage! We were able to stand 10 feet from the front of the stage, and could have been closer, if it weren't for my strange neurosis about crowd's of people.

The show started and at first, everyone was cool and pretty chilled out. Franti's crowd is typically just a bunch of pot-smoking hippies, which are typically the most easy-going, chilled out people in the world! However, at the very beginning, there was a couple of rich kids from Scottsdale that were coked out or SOMETHING. They were completely out of control and ruining things for everyone. They were dancing and spinning and literally knocking people over as they were doing it! Everyone was frustrated, when the guy (probably about 23) knocked me over for the third or fourth time and I finally looked at him and said, "You guys need to chill out. You're ruining this for everyone!"

"You just need to cool down and have a litte fun, everyone else is having a good time. You're just too high strung," came his response. Oooooh..my blood began to boil.
"Seriously, someone is going to get hurt if you guys don't chill out." To which he started getting up in my face, and I switched right into full-on Forster teacher mode. It was actually frightening how quickly that happened. I squared up to him, and said "You need to back off."
"Oooh, I'm scared. What are you going to do to me?"
"You need to back off." Long pause. "Back off."

Amazingly enough, he did. He cooled off and didn't bother anyone the rest of the night. Eric told me after the show that people were actually really glad that I said something. I was a little nervous while I was doing it, but in all honesty, what is he going to do, hit me? There were at least 5 guys standing behind me that would have taken him out, he would have gotten kicked out of the show, and I would have pressed charges. I almost wish he would have hit me :-) It would have made for an even better show *chuckling*. Boy, I sure can attract em!

All in all, it was an absolutely incredible evening. I don't think I have ever been that close in a show before. No, I am wrong. We were that close at George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars, sitting behind a gang in black leather with "Satan's Helpers" sewed on their black vests. No kidding. Surprisingly enough, they were the friendliest people at that show, and they definitely had our back if needed! I digress...again. Franti is an amazing performer, and his music is incredible. If you don't have his albums, I would highly suggest "Yell Fire," or "Everyone Deserves Music." I have listened to these two albums more than any other put together. The show definitely did not disappoint.